“I have a lot to give IPL Because it has changed my cricket and my life,” Hardik Pandya told this writer after he was first selected in the Indian team on the tour of Australia in December 2016. In the last half a dozen years, Pandya has literally seen it all on and off the field. It may be a cliché but there is no better word than a rollercoaster to describe the transformation of the Baroda all-rounder. Mumbai Indians, who believed in him when he was nobody, decided not to retain him for IPL 2022 and the 28-year-old was immediately caught by a new franchise from his home state, Gujarat. and if any Bollywood The director is looking for a new biopic on a cricketer, he shouldn’t waste much time. Pandya’s stellar performance as the new Captain Cool is indeed a fairy tale. Unsurprisingly, in Pandya’s life, once again the best thing has happened in the biggest T20 league in the world, which of course is the Indian Premier League.
All-rounder Hardik Pandya leads Gujarat Titans to IPL 2022 title in debut season
The now familiar calmness and unrelenting self-assurance that has been the focus of Pandya 2.0 was actually quite evident even from the time when he was not sure in the Baroda Ranji side. ,Apna time kab aaygeThe first words I heard from him were in the winter of Delhi in 2015. The phrasing of the words may sound a bit exaggerated, but honestly, the content of his answer was exactly the same. If you still have doubts, you can go and check it out Here Your story really sang when Pandya narrated his life story at the IIT Mumbai event for SitTalk, a TED talk platform for inspiration stories.
Pandya was always fascinated by the limelight of a cricketer in this country and he was watching the interview with this writer’s ex India All-rounder Irfan Pathan who was being recorded for a TV channel and asked innocently, “aap sirf india players ka interview karte ho, You interview only India players, not Ranji players?” Never before nor since, as a journalist has this writer faced this question from a sportsperson! Unprepared for such questions, I somehow managed to overcome my awkwardness by arguing that since I worked for a national channel and the space was limited, we would like to avoid domestic cricket like him. The youth were not able to give proper attention to the talents. To be honest, I was trying to avoid that weird question.
My ignorance in not knowing Pandya was somehow justified as his record in 13 first-class matches (batting average 27, and no tons, ball with just 17 wickets) was not dazzling at all. Even in the shortest format of the game (he averaged 26.47 in 28 T20 matches and had a strike rate of 122.68 and the same 17 wickets with the ball), he was often not a regular for Baroda. And yet, Pathan, Baroda’s biggest star and one of India’s finest all-rounders, saw something special in him and took him under his wing. “He is very talented,” Pathan told me that day, making a remarkable introduction as Pathan joined us in the conversation. He will play for India soon.
Of course, it is now well documented how Pandya was picked up at base price by Mumbai Indians during the IPL auction, in the same year. This proved to be an inspired move, thanks to the vision of former India coach John Wright, who had seen Pandya bat in a match against Zaheer Khan in Mumbai in 2014, where he scored 82 runs off just 57 balls!
Even when he was barely known in the Baroda cricket circuit, he still dreamed of becoming a star in Indian cricket. And he was ready to work hard. He was ready to dare and fail and then learn from mistakes and then make a statement. Despite the apparent arrogance in his personality, he managed to impress the modern iconic trio of Indian cricket, MS Dhoni, Virat Kohli And Rohit Sharma in equal measure. If Dhoni was their first Indian captain, who was somehow bowled over by Pandya in such a way that the Baroda player would not have faced the all-time famous struggles for many cricketers while teaming up with a reluctant superstar like MSD, Take a charter flight from Mumbai to Ranchi to spend a few days as he could Mahi bhai, Who knows that the peace that everyone is talking about Pandya now is a gift of Dhoni’s presence in his life when he needed him the most in difficult situations in the past?
Certainly Pandya has always been a quick learner and this is evidenced by his thoughts as well. While in our first conversation if he didn’t shy away from saying that he wanted to be the Jacques Kallis of India, he later rightly realized that even such great ambitions had the potential to go wrong against him when he was on a rough patch. Will go through a patch. Now, he just wanted to be of India, Hardik Pandya.
Last but not least, there is a quote that is etched in the memory of this author when in an interview session with him, Pandya was asked about the most important lesson he has ever learned and he said- “copy and paste (copy and paste). This is Kohli’s formula – if you have got a century, remember that innings and try to repeat the same process. You just need to remember the ways that made you successful. You have to copy and paste them.”
However, the way Pandya first transformed himself into a solid and surprisingly reliable middle-order bat for GT in this IPL and then threw those thunderbolts in the final of the IPL and certainly a fearless lead Symptoms, it is impossible to cut it easily. Stick to his methods every time in cricket. One thing is for sure – Pandya, who till now was seen as a vital all-rounder for Team India, has suddenly become a serious material for captaincy, at least in the T20 format. Clearly, he looks far ahead of his contemporaries and sports like KL Rahul and Rishabh Pant with awareness and man-management. The way Pandya has written a magical story for Gujarat Titans in IPL 2022, who knows if he gets the captaincy of India, he might repeat the same sentence for a few months or even years, which we mentioned at the beginning of the piece was used. “I am deeply indebted to the IPL because it has changed my cricket and my life.”
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